Blizzard Entertainment
Associate Engineering Director | Activision Blizzard Media
Blizzard Entertainment, San Francisco, California, United States, 94199
**Craft:****Job Description:****Your Role Within the Kingdom**As an Associate Engineering Director, you will lead multiple teams responsible for mission-critical platform and delivery systems, operating at scale in a cloud-native environment. Your impact will come not from domain-specific expertise, but from your ability to build high-performing teams, bring technical clarity, and drive operational and execution excellence across complex, cross-functional initiatives.This role is ideal for an engineering leader who thrives in fast-moving environments, values strong fundamentals, and takes pride in predictable delivery, system quality, and team health.**About Activision Blizzard Media**Activision Blizzard Media is the gateway for brands to the #1 cross-platform gaming company in the western world, with hundreds of millions of players across over 190 countries. Our legendary portfolio includes iconic mobile game franchises such as Candy Crush, esports opportunities like the Call of Duty and Overwatch Leagues, and some of the top PC and console gaming franchises such as World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and StarCraft.**Responsibilities**Lead High-Performing Engineering Teams* Build, lead, and sustain **high-performing teams and managers** with clear ownership, accountability, and trust.* Create an environment where engineers can do their best work through **focus, prioritization, and strong execution discipline**.* Coach and develop engineering leaders, helping them grow technical judgment, delivery confidence, and people leadership skills.Bring Clarity to Ambiguous Business Objectives* Translate **unclear or evolving business goals** into concrete technical strategies, roadmaps, and execution plans.* Help teams navigate trade-offs, define scope, and make sound decisions under uncertainty.* Act as a **technical and organizational anchor**, ensuring alignment between product intent, engineering execution, and operational reality.Drive Technical & Architectural Excellence* Provide **technical leadership and oversight** across distributed systems and cloud-based services.* Ensure architecture decisions balance **simplicity, scalability, maintainability, and time-to-value**.* Promote strong engineering fundamentals: clean design, testability, observability, and operational readiness.Operational & Execution Excellence* Establish and continuously improve **execution practices**, delivery predictability, and operational hygiene.* Ensure teams plan realistically, manage dependencies effectively, and deliver with high quality.* Lead by example in **incident management, post-incident learning, and continuous improvement**.* Use metrics and signals to guide decisions without creating unnecessary process or overhead.Cross-Functional Collaboration* Partner closely with **Product, Data, Commercial, and Platform teams** to ensure shared understanding and aligned outcomes.* Communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, setting expectations and building confidence in delivery.**Skills to Create Thrills*** 8+ years of proven experience **leading multiple teams or managers** in a complex engineering organization.* Strong **organizational skills and time management**, with the ability to prioritize effectively at scale.* The ability to **simplify complexity**, create clarity, and guide teams through ambiguity.* A solid technical foundation that enables you to ask the right questions, challenge assumptions, and support sound architectural decisions.* A strong passion for **operational excellence, reliability, and continuous improvement**.* Excellent communication skills and a collaborative leadership style.* Deep ad-tech or domain-specific experience is **not required**. We value leaders who can learn domains quickly and apply strong engineering and organizational fundamentals.**What Success Looks Like*** Teams deliver **predictably and with high quality**, even as priorities evolve.* Engineers understand *why* they’re building something and *how* success is measured.* Systems are **stable, observable, and continuously improving**.* Stakeholders trust engineering to turn complexity into outcomes.**Why Join Us**You’ll join an organization that:* Values **engineering excellence and strong fundamentals*** Invests in **people, leadership, and sustainable delivery*** Encourages thoughtful decision-making over heroicsWe are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to accommodationrequests@activisionblizzard.com. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.**About Activision Blizzard Media**Activision Blizzard Media is the gateway for brands to the #1 cross-platform gaming company in the western world, with hundreds of millions of players across over 190 countries. Our legendary portfolio includes iconic mobile game franchises such as Candy Crush, esports opportunities like the Call of Duty and Overwatch Leagues, and some of the top PC and console gaming franchises such as World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and StarCraft. The idea is simple: great game experiences offer great marketing experiences.**A Great Saga Needs All Sorts of Heroes**King strives to be a place where everyone can be their most authentic self. We recognize that diversity, equity and inclusion is a vital and continuous conversation, and that change only happens when we all come together. It’s our mission to build a diverse and inclusive Kingdom for our people, players, and community. **Making the World Playful**Kingsters are seriously playful: creative thinkers who balance art and science to bring moments of magic to millions daily. But our players aren’t the only ones that can level-up. We’re always looking for ways to champion each other and make what’s already great, even better.So, if this feels like a fun way to spend your days, and you share our passion, our values, and our hunger to shape the future, join us in Making the World Playful.Applications needs to be in English.Discover King at**Rewards**We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!
Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:* Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;* 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;* Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;* Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;* If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company.
You can learn more by visiting .In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $155,500.00 - $287,876.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based #J-18808-Ljbffr
Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:* Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;* 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;* Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;* Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;* If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company.
You can learn more by visiting .In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $155,500.00 - $287,876.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based #J-18808-Ljbffr